Monday, October 17, 2011

Baby Downy Woodpeckers visited us this summer...

This summer two baby Downy Woodpeckers spent a lot of time in our backyard and outside my kitchen window. It was a special time watching the babies learn how to hunt insects on their own and nab peanuts from the peanut feeders. Hopefully I'll see them through the winter...

...a sleepy-eyed baby Downy Woodpecker rests on a dead willow branch to watch what was going on around her (later during the summer, the entire dead section of the tree, including this branch, came tumbling down. During the winter our Cooper's Hawk and our Red-shouldered Hawk perch in the dead tree, giving us fantastic views of them, but no more. We already miss the dead part of our half-dead Weeping Willow tree).

...she decided to soak up a few rays of sunshine and remained in this splayed-wing posture for a minute or so!

My Camera and Lenses

I hand hold the camera for all my photos (I used to use a monopod or tripod for distance and macro, but the VR lenses don't seem to require it). I crop the images down in Aperture (I'm a Mac).

The Story Behind "Red and the Peanut"

Red and the Peanut is named after my first bird memory. When I was about six, I was at my Great Aunt Mary's house and she was telling me about Red and the peanut. "Red" was a Northern Cardinal that had trained Aunt Mary to feed it peanuts on demand. Since Aunt Mary's "Red" started it all, what better name could I choose?